Who Should You Hold Liable for a Defective Product?

Apr 12, 2018

Who Should You Hold Liable for a Defective Product?

Posted By
Fitzpatrick Mariano Santos Sousa P.C.

Have you ever encountered a defective product? Most often a defect simply
means something that doesn’t work as it’s supposed to when
it comes out of the box, usually an electronic or gadget that has a flaw
in its electronic circuitry. However, any product can be defective, and
if the defect happens to be serious enough to the point where it causes
someone to become injured, then the injury victim could potentially file
an injury claim against one of several parties responsible for the product
reaching their hands. On this blog, we’ll explain these different
parties and how they all could have contributed to the negligence that
led to your injury.

The Chain of Distribution

A product has to pass through several different stops before it can reach
a consumer’s hands. This path is known as the
chain of distribution, and is important in that anybody along this chain can potentially play
a part in the negligence that resulted in a defective product. Therefore,
they could all carry a share of the liability. Here are the various steps
in the distribution process.

A product begins at the
manufacturer, where the raw materials for a product are pieced together, creating the
product itself. It’s important to note that some manufacturers are
merely final assembly points, whereas others take the raw materials themselves
and form them into what’s necessary to create the final product.
A manufacturer who merely assembles a product from parts acquired from
other manufacturers isn’t the first step in the chain. Likewise,
all of these different companies can have a hand in product liability.
A defective component from one manufacturer can cause an entire product
to fail, leaving both that manufacture, and the one who failed to notice
the defective component when assembling the final product with a share
of liability.

Once a product is created, it may then be passed to a
distributor or a
wholesaler. These third-party middlemen are essentially responsible for collecting
products from various sources and then bringing them to the stores where
they can be purchased. These companies also have a responsibility to ensure
that the products they work with are safe for use and have a minimal chance
of causing an injury due to a defect. However, not all products go through
one of these companies, so they are not always a part of the equation.
Furthermore, a wholesaler or distributor who doesn’t have any reason
to believe a product is dangerous or defective may not have a duty to
pull it from their supply.

Finally, a product reaches its last stop before it gets into the hands
of the consumer: a
retailer. This is the store or company that sells the final product or utilizes
it in their services. These businesses and companies have a duty to ensure
the products they’re selling are safe to use and consume, and besides
manufacturers often have one of the largest shares of liability in this chain.

Who Should You Sue?

If you have been injured by a defective product, which of these parties
should you hold responsible? The answer is a simple one: as many of them
as possible. However, the question then becomes who along this chain actually
shares in some of the liability? The manufacturer almost always has at
least some contribution to the defective product since they were the ones
to make it in the first place. However, if they do their due diligence
and promptly recall all potentially dangerous products off the market,
they could potentially be off the hook for the actions of a retailer or
distributor.

Distributors could find themselves in trouble if their conduct causes the
products to become dangerous, such as leaving heat-sensitive products
in hot warehouses or trucks for too long. Furthermore, they could be implicated
for knowingly distributing a product that was defective or on recall to
retailers.

Finally, retailers also need to make the effort to pull defective or recalled
products from their shelves before they’re sold. A retailer could
be held liable for selling a defective product to a consumer, even if
the consumer who is injured by the product is a) not the person who bought
it, b) not the one who used the product, or c) purchased a product that
was already used. It’s this same principal that allows consumers
to hold car dealers who sell “certified pre-owned” vehicles
liable for defects that cause injury, even if they aren’t the ones
originally selling the car.